Online demand for IT contractors ‘on the rise’

Online demand for contract IT staff to work in the private sector improved in the three months to June, yet around the same time that overall labour market conditions became “challenging,”

Announcing the quarterly spike in contracting, Jobsite.co.uk said IT was one of four private sectors that led the growth in temporary hires online, though the wider jobs market “remains volatile”.

There was also demand for engineers, executives and financial staff over the same period, but the private sector “still isn’t showing enough demand to absorb the fallout from public sector redundancies.” 

However it’s not for want of trying: the number of job-seekers online who are signed up with agencies is at its highest since 2008, found the May/June study of 500 candidates and 200 agents.

One trend highlighted among the hopefuls was that a growing number want to see the opportunities available to them online before taking the time to upload their CV.

Among recruiters, there was a bigger leap towards using just one job board – a single site is now the preference for 83% of agents (up from 73% in the first quarter) – most likely due to time and cost constraints.